NATHAN BERGSTEDT HERALD-REVIEW Mesabi Daily News

The mining industry is well known for its use of gigantic machines designed to sculpt the surface of the earth to their whim.

But of course, if you consider the fact that the industry wouldn’t exist if it was strictly a line-up of humongous earth movers, you realize that it takes all manners of machines to make the industry hum.

Herc-U-Lift has, for more than 40 years, been supplying customers in Minnesota, Wisconsin, North Dakota, South Dakota, and Iowa with the forklifts and other material-handling machines. With a branch in Grand Rapids, the company is just starting to break out into the mining industry, seeing it as an opportunity to grow even further.

“You can’t believe how many different kinds of businesses use forklifts,” said John Uhan, Herc-U-Lift Territory Manager in northern Minnesota, noting further that he’s worked with grocery stores, car dealerships, auto parts stores, carpet stores, etc.

When asked who their main customer base was, Uhan said that there was no such person or company, due to the wide range of industries that require some amount of material-handling machines.

Despite the fact that mining is a primary industry across northeast Minnesota, Uhan said that Herc-U-Lift hasn’t spent a lot of time and effort to break into that market in the past. Over the last three years that he’s been with the company, he added that companies like Magnetation and Minntac are definitely going to be a part of Herc-U-Lift’s future.

“I’m always trying to grow our market share in the mines, that’s for sure,” said Uhan.

Most recently, Herc-U-Lift rented out a 36,000-pound forklift to the contractor working on Magnetation’s Plant 4, which is being built just outside of Grand Rapids.

The construction industry has been a big market for Herc-U-Lift throughout their history, particularly for the larger machines that they sell. It’s the most efficient way to get building materials above the first floor.

With Herc-U-Lift looking to expand their business into the primary industry of the Iron Range, starting small with just a couple companies, Uhan compared it to how the company began more than 40 years ago.

“We started basically with two guys selling a couple of used forklifts, and right now we have seven branches and almost 200 employees.”